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Monthly Archives: March 2016

Isn’t it interesting how many parallels one can find in the random and big events of life? Perhaps one of the biggest defining moments is the birth of a child. The excitement of a newborn is intermingled with the fear of how to raise it, fund it and nurture it. How an infant is cared for is different than a toddler and certainly radically different than a teen. Smart parents seek the advice and counsel of those who have parented highly successful children. The rewards of a well thought out parenting style shines in the lives of a child maturing to adulthood.

A parallel to parenting can be seen in non-profit fund raising events. The majority of the time, a new event is exciting but intermingled with the fear of how to make it happen, how to fund it and nurture it to maturity. Many times, the people planning the event have little experience in fund raising events and lots of experience in weddings and parties; giving more attention to décor and food than the main event, the live auction. Smart fund raising event planners seek the counsel of those who have created and planned highly successful events before without going through the pain of learning things the hard way! That approach costs organizations money, and time. At Granger-Thagard, we have successfully led over 500 non-profit auctions and can help you take yours from infancy to maturation by being lockstep with you in the planning and execution of your event—from infancy to maturation in quick order.

Common issues that face new, and stalemated events:

Bossy committee members that just want to do things the way they always have—like the definition of insanity we all know, Doing things the same way over and over expecting different results.

Paying more attention to the music, food and décor than to the main reason for the event—The Live Auction.

Using non-professionals for the auction—i.e. radio, tv, and other local celebrities vs. a professional fund raising team. Do you want an amateur pilot flying your plane?

Spending mountains of time seeking items for live and silent auction when the proven formula for success is–Less is More!

How to balance silent/live auction and pledging?

No succession plan in place—future planners will inherit what you did and the event suffers and stalemates…Easy formula to avoid this tragedy.

Not seeking the advice of experts and/or falling back into the same old rut because you didn’t listen or heed the advice.

YIKES!

Let’s get together today and start the process of a great fund raiser! We can teach you in a short time how to avoid these traps and others– what would take you years of mistakes to learn.